Strategies to Prevent Future Electric Bill Spikes Highlighted at Senate Public Hearing

SHENANDOAH - Strategies to prevent future electric bill hikes across northeast Pennsylvania were reviewed during a public hearing of the Senate Majority Policy Committee chaired today by Sen. Dave Argall (R-29) and Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23), chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

"We should all agree that to limit even higher electricity prices, we need more energy production and fewer regulations - both here in Pennsylvania and especially in many of our neighboring states," Argall said. "Our neighboring states' failed energy policies are driving up our electric bills right here in Shenandoah and across all of Pennsylvania."

"For years, aggressive renewable energy mandates have pushed dependable, round-the-clock power plants into early retirement, all while demand is increasing," Yaw said. "If this trend continues, consumers could face higher electricity costs, reliability concerns and power shortages. We need to build more reliable baseload generation, starting yesterday."

Neal Lesher, vice president of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, noted Pennsylvania is the top electricity exporter and a top supplier of natural gas, coal and refined petroleum products, but a mismatch in timing between the retirement of generation sources and the integration of new sources is driving up prices and risking electric grid reliability. The impact of this is compounded by the closure of power plants in neighboring states like Maryland and Virginia due to aggressive climate policies. Since these states are also part of the regional electric grid, PJM, their lack of generation and increased demand drives up electric bills for Pennsylvania families.

Shelby Linton-Keddie, senior director of public and external affairs for PPL Electric Utilities, shared that PJM has repeatedly warned that generation retirements exceed the building of new power plants, while demand is increasing due to electrification, manufacturing growth and large-load operations like data centers.

Nathan Benefield, chief policy officer at the Commonwealth Foundation, stated a key factor in the lack of new generation was Pennsylvania's attempted participation in Gov. Wolf's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative from 2019-25. "Even though legal injunctions blocked the RGGI carbon tax, the credible threat alone was sufficient to send power plant builders out of Pennsylvania," Benefield said. When the Senate successfully fought to repeal the RGGI carbon tax in November 2025, there was a tenfold increase in electric generation proposals.

Benefield called for the General Assembly to "make that certainty durable," noting that employers will go where rules are easy to predict.

Patrick Henderson, vice president for government affairs and communications for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, focused on the role of Pennsylvania-produced natural gas in meeting the energy needs of Pennsylvanians and the wider region. In the past 15 years, the commonwealth rose from the 15th-largest to the second-largest natural gas producer in the U.S. He called for pro-growth policies to continue expanding the industry, including cutting red tape to speed up the permitting process and support for building more pipelines and infrastructure.

Henderson also praised the Senate for its work to repeal RGGI, and noted "the governor's PACER plan, for example, is a nearly identical replica of RGGI and would eviscerate any momentum for building in-state power generation."

Jaret Gibbons, executive director of the Appalachian Region Independent Power Producers Association, discussed the unique benefits of coal refuse reclamation to energy plants, which use waste coal left behind by historic mining operations to generate electricity, remediating mine-scarred land in the process. He stated Pennsylvanian's 10 coal refuse plants have removed half the coal refuse in the state, improved 1,200 miles of impaired streams and restored 8,000 acres of mining-affected land. Without these plants, the full cost to taxpayers to remediate this land would total $9.3 billion.

Alexander Brush, general manager for both Gilberton Power Company and Schuylkill Energy Resources Inc., outlined the impact of two Schuylkill County coal refuse plants. The plants he manages generate roughly enough electricity to serve half a million people - the population of Schuylkill, Carbon and Northumberland counties - all while restoring land and water impaired by historic coal mining and providing more than 100 family-sustaining jobs. He called for the creation of more facilities using waste as fuel to address Pennsylvania's energy needs.

"We need to meet our energy needs AND protect our environment," Argall said. "Unlike 50 or 100 years ago, our laws are much stricter in regulating how and where employers and utilities can operate in our local communities, which is why we now see people fishing in local streams that were once hopelessly polluted and the mountains around many of our local towns are now green, unlike the browns and grays and blacks I remember from my childhood. I know we still have more work to do on this front, but we have made considerable progress since the 'bad old days.'"

Video of the full public hearing and written testimony is available on the Senate Majority Policy Committee website.